Augoeides

About Me

I am a Thelemite and ritual magician also known as Ananael Qaa who has been practicing for more
than 25 years. I have a degree in experimental psychology from Saint
Olaf College, a well-regarded Lutheran school that has a surprisingly
good collection of Aleister Crowley's work, and have been involved in
Ordo Templi Orientis since 1995 and Masonry since 1997.

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Monday, January 2, 2017

The Planetary and Elemental Work - Epilogue

In putting together my Planetary and Elemental Work series, various questions have come up on the different posts. Rather than requiring people to go back through those posts and the corresponding discussion points, this week I will be doing my best to summarize my answers to those questions, along with providing some addition information on them. As such, this article covers a lot of disparate points and jumps around quite a bit. But hopefully, in the end, it will all make sense as part of a whole.

The Kamea of the Moon is used for the elemental sigils because in Qabalah, the Moon is Yesod, the Foundation. It corresponds to personal realm below the Veil of Paroketh and is the ruler of the elemental realm, just as the Sun is the ruler of the planetary realm. There is thus no need to assemble a "Malkuth Kamea" for them based a 10 x 10 square, or anything like that. You can also use other traditional sigils for the elemental kings if you so desire. The Kamea method is just one way to generate their sigils, not the only way. They are intelligent spirits that will recognize your call according to any of the traditional techniques. This is also true with regard to the planetary angels.

The pentagram is a microcosmic figure, and the hexagram is a macrocosmic figure, but the elements have macrocosmic aspects just as the planet have microcosmic ones. The idea of using microcosmic aspects to influence macrocosmic aspects by employing some sort of resonance between the internal and external is pretty much how all practical magick works, and also the basic idea behind the operant model. So it would not be correct to argue that elemental operations are by necessity psychological, or that planetary operations are by necessity practical. Both classes of rituals can be used both ways, which is especially evident in initiatory work.

With regard to the Lesser, Greater, and Supreme classes of ritual as laid out in the modern Golden Dawn magical system, I dislike the nomenclature because there isn't really a progression from one to the next, or a hierarchy on which they all have places. They are different kinds of rituals that do different things, not steps on a ladder or positions in a hierarchy. Therefore, the idea that one is better than another doesn't really make sense. I have wondered over the years if the idea might have originated as a sort of marketing idea for beginning initiates. You learn the "lesser" forms with the promise of eventually getting your hands on the "greater" forms.

But essentially, Lesser means general and Greater means specific. Based on the example of the Supreme Pentagram, it looks as if Supreme might mean sephirothic, since the Supreme Pentagram is basically a Greater Ritual of the Pentagram for Malkuth employing all four elements. But that doesn't really fit either, unless you decide that the Greater Ritual of the Hexagram is just for paths, and when it is used for sephiroth it becomes a "Supreme Ritual of the Hexagram." And even if that were the case, I strongly believe that there really should not be a hierarchy set up between magick (paths) and mysticism (sephiroth) if we really want our terminology to be accurate.

Mysticism is not superior to magick, but rather they are two sides of the same coin. Mystical practice builds up your ability to work magick, and magick lets you shape your mundane life into a framework that supports further mystical practice. Generally speaking, people arguing that mysticism is the real point and magick is just a distraction are people who came to magick wanting to do things, found that it didn't work for them, and then went on to do mystical work and got good results from that. This doesn't reflect any profound insight, rather, it usually just reflects a lack of talent. Getting mystical results requires far less talent than getting practical magical results.

Consciousness is quite malleable when compared to the physical, material realm. One takeaway from that is that even if you have trouble getting magick to work, you probably will benefit from meditation and other mystical work. But another is that if you can't work effective magick yourself, you really are in no position to judge the magical work of others, or try to argue that they shouldn't be bothering. Problems can arise if you become totally obsessed with practical work, but the same is true of mysticism, in that mystically-inclined magicians who can't hold their mundane lives together is cliche in the occult community.

One additional feature of the Supreme Pentagram is the use of both Enochian and Qabalistic god-names within the same ritual form. Personally, I don't think this is a good practice unless you plan on working with the Golden Dawn Enochian system rather than the original Dee material. For one thing, the Golden Dawn attributions don't match the originals, so if you try to combine them you'll be out of sync right from the start. It is true that if you use the full magical templates in my books, that you can do rituals where you are, say, calling a Heptarchial entity after using the Greater Ritual of the Hexagram with a Qabalistic god-name. But I don't see that as the same thing at all because the ritual forms themselves are kept separate.

There some overlap in the Enochian system with Qabalistic material, but I don't think that overlap extends to the point of tracing a pentagram while you vibrate a series of names that include both Qabalistic and Enochian elements. At least when using the original attributions, I don't believe that they should be mixed to that degree for optimal effect. And even then, I find that my explicitly Enochian pentagram and hexagram rituals work better than the Qabalistic versions for explicitly Enochian work.

Some of the angel names switch between path and sephira, and angels are intelligent spirits so even if you are trying to, say, do a Jupiter path operation calling on Tzaphkiel, the sephira angel, you can still get good results because the angel knows to delegate the operation to the right place. It just works better if you call the right angel to start with. They do appear to be separate entities, though, for what that's worth - not psychological projections or a single being with multiple names. It's possible that "Archangel" versus "Angel" is a meaningful distinction because Archangels can have multiple attributions, like so:

Angel

Element

Path

Sephira

Michael

Fire

Sun

Hod (Mercury)

Raphael

Air

Mercury

Tiphareth (Sun)

Gabriel

Water

Moon

Yesod (Moon)

Auriel/Uriel, usually attributed to elemental Earth, is the odd Archangel out, but perhaps it still fits if you consider that Earth can be thought of as the amalgam of all four elements. Or maybe this is just a spurious association on my part; it's hard to say.

All of the planetary rituals may be performed with a full magick circle. I have found that it is not entirely necessary and it takes a fair amount of time to set up, but Liber O only gives a single example from which it is difficult to derive the full method. The circle should be drawn in the Queen Scale color for the sephira with the corresponding number of lamps placed evenly around it.

Then, connecting the lamps, you draw the appropriate lineal figure within the circle, in the natural color (King scale for paths, Queen scale for sephira) corresponding to your operation. The lamps should match the color of the lineal figure, not the color of the circle. As you can see, this generally means that when working with a path, the circle and lamps/lineal figures will not match, whereas with a sephira they always will. Sephiroth represent states, paths represent transitions and movements of energy.

This table shows all of these attributions for the planets, both sephira and path. I am just using base colors here - for example, there are subtle distinctions laid out in Liber 777 between "Scarlet Red" and "Red" and "Emerald Green" and "Green" for Mars and Venus respectively, and between "Indigo" and "Violet." The primary and secondary colors here are those that correspond most closely to those distinctions, since candles/lamps are not generally available in every conceivable color.

Planet

Operation Type

Circle Color

Figure

Lamps

Figure/Lamp Color

Moon

Sephira

Purple

Enneagram

9

Purple

Moon

Path

Purple

Enneagram

9

Blue

Mercury

Sephira

Orange

Octagram

8

Orange

Mercury

Path

Orange

Octagram

8

Yellow

Venus

Sephira

Green

Heptagram

7

Green

Venus

Path

Green

Heptagram

7

Green

Sun

Sephira

Yellow

Hexagram

6

Yellow

Sun

Path

Yellow

Hexagram

6

Orange

Mars

Sephira

Red

Pentagram

5

Red

Mars

Path

Red

Pentagram

5

Red

Jupiter

Sephira

Blue

Square

4

Blue

Jupiter

Path

Blue

Square

4

Purple

Saturn

Sephira

Black

Triangle

3

Black

Saturn

Path

Black

Triangle

3

Purple

For the elements, a similar matrix can be constructed. Sephirothic elemental operations all pertain to the sephira Malkuth, which is activated using some variation of the "Supreme Pentagram" - that is, with each element traced to its corresponding quarter. The circle used for this operation traditionally consists of four colors - citrine, olive, russet, and black - each to the proper quarter.

Normally the elemental quarters are set up using the winds (microcosmic) model, with citrine (Air) in the east, olive (Water) in the west, russet (Fire) in the south, and black (Earth) in the north. Liber 777 also mentions green as a possible color for Malkuth in the New Aeon, which is convenient because again, candles and lamps generally are only easy to find in primary and secondary colors.

Element

Circle Color

Figure

Lamps

Figure/Lamp Color

Fire

Russet or Green

Decagram

10

Orange or Red

Air

Citrine or Green

Decagram

10

Yellow

Water

Olive or Green

Decagram

10

Blue

Earth

Black or Gree

Decagram

10

Black or Green

Another setup that is common in Neo-Paganism for elemental rituals is to cast a circle lined with four lamps, one to each quarter. No lineal figure is drawn between the lamps. This setup can be used for the equivalent of a Malkuth operation if lamps of all four colors are used, each placed to the corresponding "winds" order direction. It may be adapted for a single element by using four identical lamps matching the color of the element being invoked. You can find more information on the subject of circles, figures, colors and so forth here.

According to the Trithemian method, for all of these operations the Table of Art should be placed within the circle, at the center, rather than outside the circle as is sometimes done for the Goetic operations found in the Lemegeton. The outer rings of the Table of Art perform the same protective function that the magick circle provides in other styles of working.

So as you can see, the setup for this is fairly involved, and takes a reasonable space in which to work. And since the Table of Art provides protection, the main function of the circle according to this system is to focus your attention upon your desired intent, symbolized by the lamps, colors, and so forth. In addition, the pentagram and hexagram rituals are used to create an "imaginary circle" which performs a similar function, so long as it is performed properly and clearly visualized.

A friend pointed out to me recently that the order of the angels on the graphic of the Table of Art that I included as part of both these series of articles is somewhat odd. Taking a closer look, I see what he was talking about - the angel names are drawn around the outer circle in a seemingly random order. If I were drawing my own, I probably would go in the regular Chaldean Order around the circle as he recommended, but I'm not sure that it would make much difference. Here are the actual directions from The Art of Drawing Spirits Into Crystals:

On the other side of the plate let there be engraven "Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, Raphael;" which are the four principal angels ruling over the Sun, Moon, Venus and Mercury; but on the table on which the crystal stands the following names, characters, &c. must be drawn in order.

First, The names of the seven planets and angels ruling them, with their seals or characters. The names of the four kings of the four corners of the earth. Let them be all written within a double circle, with a triangle on a table; on which place the crystal on its pedestal: this being done, thy table is complete (as in the Fig. D,) and fit for the calling of the spirits.

At issue, I think, is the meaning of "in order" in the first paragraph. It might allude to the "order" of drawing the angel names around the circle first, and then the Kings of the Earth within that. Or, as my friend believed, it might refer to the angel names being written according to the Chaldean Order around the outer circle. I will be searching around at some point to see if I can find a better rendering, since it seems to me that whether or not it makes a difference, it can't hurt to put the planetary angel names in order. So if you see the graphic updated at some point, or if you go back to these articles and find that the angel names are in order, that would be why.

In the operant model, it is generally the case that you wind up working with the operant field far more than any other. The banishing field is deliberately used sparingly, as it shuts down microcosmic and macrocosmic effects and thus can negate ongoing spells that are not independently anchored in talismans. Likewise, the functions of the other two variants are not entirely obvious.

The centering field (LIRP/LBRH) can be used for strictly psychological work - that is, when you wish to work exclusively with the contents of your own mind excluded from outside influence. The reason this is not done as much as you might think is because unless you are a reasonably accomplished magician, it's not much different from just using the LIRP on its own.

The invoking field (LIRP/LIRH) can be used to provide a general "boost" to all ongoing magical operations. That is, you cast a spell that will run for X days, and for those days you then use the invoking field rather than the operant field for your daily practice. But note that if your spell is anchored by a talisman, the effect from this is generally minimal. This is one limitation of using talismans.

The advantage of talismans is that they are effectively separated from your own sphere of awareness and run under "their own power," so to speak. If all your spells are anchored talismanically, you can use a banishing field without affecting them at all. Likewise, magical attacks and the like directed against you will not affect them, and an attack in response to an anchored spell will hit the talisman, not you. In addition, you can create as many talismans as you want without the power of one affecting the power of another.

The disadvantage of talismans is that individually they are not quite as powerful. The probability dropoff seems to be about .8, that is, a talisman can create about 80% of the probability shift that you can when casting a single spell from your own sphere. Another is that they cannot easily partake of energy that you raise to support them via methods such as the operant field. But when casting from your own sphere of awareness, it also is true that your available power gets divided between all ongoing operations.

So for example, if you already have two spells going, the third spell will have a dropoff of about .3 because of the other two running spells, and a talisman with a fixed dropoff of .8 will give you a better shift. This winds up being a complex subject, since when working with spirits, what you are conjuring is a combination of your own power and that of the spirit. So if you cast three spells, each calling on a different spirit but anchored to your sphere of awareness, your own power would be divided among the three spells but the power of each spirit would not. I may do a longer post on this some other Monday, but if you're interested in reading more, you can take a look at this article.

Magical links are another topic that my previous articles did not touch upon. You can create a talisman bound to a particular person, object, association, or whatever by using the appropriate Kamea to convert their name into a sigil. Then, you draw that sigil onto the character or grid along with that of the angel or king. Frater Barrabbas recently posted an article regarding what he calls "qualified" versus "unqualified" powers. His idea is that qualified powers are intelligent and complex enough that they can work on a target without a magical link, whereas unqualified powers require one because their level of complexity and intelligence is much lower.

This true at a basic level - some spirits are profoundly stupid, don't take instruction well, and don't seem to be able to navigate even trivial obstacles, while entities like planetary angels and elemental kings can and do. You probably could affect a target without a link using any of the spirits called in these articles, but why would you want to? I personally always use a link, because even in the case of spirits that can figure it out and get the job done, providing a link means less "administrative overhead," so to speak. You want the spirit to expend all the power it can on getting your intent done, rather than putting effort into trying to work out how to go at a target.

Next week I will be moving on to a 12-week series covering the Zodiac, and after that a series covering the Path of Initiation based on the sephirothic work as laid out in Liber 777. If you have more questions after reading over this article, feel free to ask.

12 comments:

Wonderful piece! Sorry if I might have skipped this in your article. It's about the use of the GRP vs the GRH when working with zodiac forces.

I've seen many texts on the occult blogosphere mentioning the use of the GIRP for zodiac signs. If I'm not mistaking, this is also the standard GD method. Or at least some branches of the GD use this method. Anyway, wouldn't the GIRP be used better for zodiac forces when working on yourself? Like if I want the power of Leo (training wild beasts), I'd use the GIRP. But if I were to cast on you to have that power, I'd use the GIRH instead, because you're a different microcosmos and the spell would have to go from the macrocosmos into your personal sphere.

And second, you say you're going to cover the mystical rituals corresponding to the spheres after the zodiac rituals. This is sooo awesome!!! Are you going to cover all 10 spheres?

My understanding is that most of the modern Golden Dawn groups use the GRP for signs. I don't. I use the GRH for signs, following the directions in Crowley's Liber O. As I see it, the microcosm is contained within the macrocosm, so the hexagram works better for the full effect. Apparently, the directions in Liber O are what Crowley got from Mathers, but by the time Regardie came around in the 1930's, the Stella Matutina had changed it.

As far as your example goes, as I see it, a power over animals is always macrocosmic unless you are talking about imaginary animals, because the animals in question would not be part of your microcosm. So as I see it, that would still correspond better to the hexagram, no matter who you were casting it on. On the other hand, if you wanted to get at the psychological traits related to a sign, again regardless of who you were casting it on, the pentagram might be a somewhat more suitable method.

Even so, it seems to me that those aspects are going to be secondary to the field - so if you opened with an operant field, you will still mostly get micro and macro aspects regardless of which form you use. You can invoke macrocosmic elements with the GRP after opening a field that includes the LIRH, after all. In the overall field model, elemental is personal, planetary expands from the personal into the transpersonal, and zodiacal expands from the transpersonal into the cosmic. Each builds on the field level below it.

Still, hexagram versus pentagram could just be aesthetics and comfort on my part. I learned zodiacal invocations using the methods in Liber O and have never seriously explored the pentagram method, because the hexagram seems to do everything I need it to do. Feel free to experiment, though my suspicion is that the hexagram will work better or that the two will be about equivalent.

The planned upcoming schedule for Magick Monday posts will be Aries on Jan 9, the Enochian magick talk that I will be giving the preceding weekend on Jan 16, then the other eleven signs over the next eleven weeks. After that I may or may not do one more "Epilogue" post dealing with questions from the zodiacal operations, and after that I will be doing the series on the sephiroth.

I will be covering all ten spheres, but it's going to take longer than ten weeks. I'll be dealing with each element separately and then Spirit for Malkuth, then the sephiroth up to the Veil of Paroketh, then the Holy Guardian Angel, then the sephiroth between the Veil of Paroketh and the Abyss and so forth. There may also be some asides and summary posts in there as well. I'm going to have to see how that goes before I can provide much of an estimate.

Finally, everything will go into a master article with links to everything, in order. So anybody who wants to learn magick can just follow along with my methods and do it - no secrets, no expensive classes, just the work itself.

I see. I just use the GRH because that's how I learned from you and it's working great so far. I had to ask though, because I keep running into all sorts of complicated rituals that use the GD templates, and all that opening by watchtower and hexagrams upon pentagrams upon crosses (etc.) is giving me a headache :)

This sounds like a magnificent year regarding your blog :D You can add up all these articles together with the future ones into a booklet, you know, and sell it to the public. I think it would be very simple to read and understand, and will also provide a clear understanding for aspiring magicians everywhere.

I'm so happy to have been led here to your blog by the higher powers and I can't thank you enough for providing all this information!

My magical work played around with the Opening by Watchtower for a couple of years, and as far as our testing went, it was no more effective than an operant field. It FEELS like more is happening when you do it, but when you measure the probability shifts it doesn't seem to help at all if you've already done LBRP/LIRH.

So to modify those sorts of templates, I would go with LBRP/LIRH to open, ditch the whole Opening by Watchtower, and close with just the LBRP rather than undoing everything you did in the opening (which is another method that is more complex, but doesn't seem to add anything).

Keep in mind that not everybody who works with those forms agrees with me. I expect that there are probably traditional GD folks out there who think my methods are wrong or even dangerous. But my advice is, as always, experiment and see for yourself.

I may be putting out a book or books at some point containing this material, or a subset of it. So far, that's up in the air and I want to see how posting the whole series goes.

I don't question their effectiveness. It's the damn length and complexity (and uselessness of some parts) that got to me. I just finished a Jupiter working using your latest planetary ritual pattern - 30 MINUTES!!! Including a brief conversation with Sachiel. I used the Field Model rather than the Operand Field. I've been using it since you posted it and I really enjoy it. I can't imagine how long it would have taken me if I were to use the GD stuff. I mean I'd give it ago if I had a personal temple, quiet environment, implements and their silly outfits - no offense to anyone in the GD, I'd love to have my own robe, but less colorful :)

I'll post a link to one of their rituals in a following comment, just so future readers would know what I'm talking about.

What's that about your methods being wrong? And DANGEROUS!? That's POPPYCOCK! I love this word, but i haven't had the right occasion to use it :) If your methods were such, I would've been really F-ed up by now, don't you think? I mean I've started working planetary rituals using only your methods and I went along with them. Yeah, I did a few RO style rituals here and there, but either than that my work was based on your articles. So unless I'm really in a psychiatric ward right now because of them, hallucinating that I'm writing to you, I feel great. I definitely feel I've grown alot in many ways since I started working with the hexagram rituals using your articles and no uptight conservative can do anything about it ;)

Bear in mind that nobody has actually come out and told me that anything I put up is dangerous. That was just speculation on my part. Donald Michael Kraig did get into it with me at one point, trying to argue that "of course" the best way to do this stuff was the Opening by Watchtower, even though I had the probability data showing that the operant field works just as well.

The Stavish ritual is the classic GD version as most of the modern groups teach it. You'll be able to see the difference with my zodiacal forms next week. I'll be starting with Aries so you can make a direct comparison between the two. You can get through it in about 45-50 minutes based on my working group's experiments with those, whereas my version takes about the same amount of time as my planetary operations.

If your zodiac rituals resemble the one in your presentation and the one for Justice and equilibrium, then that's the pattern I use. I've even had success with them in healing corresponding body parts.

I have nothing against the GD rituals. But I think they're best suited for those who adhere to the GD, or at least follow their curriculum to the letter in their personal work. I'm only speaking for myself, but i think people like me with little conditions, resources and so on are willing to cut some corners in their practices and rituals, while at the same time being successful with them. Think about it, a person with no knowledge of the occult who is willing to take on ceremonial magick would be more inlined towards these methods, rather than the more complicated ones. I mean you've covered all the angles so far. And with the addition of the mystical rituals everyone will have access to a simple system. Although with a little imagination it's not that hard to construct a mystical ritual using your articles.

I couldn't find even 10% of this in all the GD websites I've visited over time. I understand they don't drop everything for the public, but it was unnerving for me when I read in some of their articles that a neophyte would have to wait a few years before beginning to practice different rituals, other than the LBRP. Until you told me that I don't need to follow their directions because i'm not a GD neophyte, that is :))

You might have seen people on the fb group asking how long the LBRP before moving on, what to practice next and for how long etc. This is because there's nothing on the subject anywhere.

Yes, they will be pretty much like the Libra ritual. The main piece I will be adding is an invocation adapted from Liber 963 that is used in place of the Orphic Hymn in the planetary operations.

My opinion is that when designing rituals, you are going for the greatest possible effect with the least amount of effort. Much as in computer programming, I am convinced that laziness can be a virtue here in the sense that if you do it the best possible way the first time, you can save yourself a lot of headaches.

In the original GD system, initiates were only taught the LRP to start. They were taught the invoking form in addition to the banishing form, so a little more than just the LBRP, but it was still just the one ritual. Keep in mind that not all of the modern GD orders still work that way - personally, I find it kind of silly, and so do some GD initiates.

I like the idea of working real magick right off the bat. Sure, when you don't know the rituals that well you probably aren't going to be able to do that much, but as you do more operations and record your results you get better at it. And that's the whole point of practicing.

Greetings Scott. I have a question regarding your usual 'modus operandi' when it comes to planetary, zodiacal and other operations. You seem to prefer evocations over invocations, from what I gather. Is there a particular reason? While I understand why you'd not want to invoke Zazel if you were cursing someone (for example), I don't fully get why you'd rather evoke than invoke for say... a money ritual (With Sachiel, for instance). Of course, I speak only of my experience which is mainly invoking which I find easier, and that also leads me to my final question: Is there a particular method you'd advice for 'training' evocations? I know scrying is a proven method which can be trained, but I also believe that there's more to evokations than just 'scrying'.

It is easy enough to modify these ritual here so that they work as invocations. The procedure is the same, except that you stand in the center of the circle and omit the Table of Art. For the conjuration you stare at the sigil, and then just hold onto it while you give the charge to the spirit and so forth. There are, however, a couple of reasons why I have the evocation version written up as the default.

First, evocation is more flexible. If you are doing a ritual entirely anchored on yourself, there's no reason you can't do that as an invocation. However, if you are using an external anchor like a talisman, I have found that it works much better to evoke into the Table. Since evoking works just as well for rituals centered on yourself, it is a consistent methodology that works both ways.

Second, evocation works much better when you have a specific external target. This is true of both positive and negative operations. If you are casting a healing spell on someone else, you want all of the magical power you conjure to go towards the target. Often, if you try to do that as an invocation, some of the power will "stick" and affect you in addition to your target. But what that means is you won't get as big a probability shift on your target, so the spell won't work as well. The "sticking" is especially annoying with curses, because it can make bad things happen to you, but it also weakens your spells in general.

Basically, if you are the caster, the target, and the anchor for your spell there is no difference between evocation and invocations, and if you find invocations easier, you should be able to get good results. But once you start working with external anchors and targets, invocation becomes more difficult and evocation is actually simpler.

You don't need to scry to do evocations. I can do it, but I usually don't bother. Scrying or some other means of communication is necessary if you want information, but not for something practical like a money spell. And, you can always just do an invocation if your goal is to converse with the spirit. Even if you can't sense the spirit in the Table of Art, if you vibrate the name for a couple of minutes after the conjuration, they should be present. Then just deliver your charge and your license to depart, as if the spirit were visible right there in front of you.

Generally speaking, that will work just fine, and help you transition into working with evocations.

The Pathless Void

Mastering the Great Table

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Mastering the Mystical Heptarchy

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